Jean Paul Gaultier and Queen lookalike at the Barbican on April 7, 2014 Photo: REX

Jean Paul Gaultier was never going to slip in unnoticed to the party celebrating his new exhibition at the Barbican. As it happens, the 'enfant terrible' of the fashion world arrived wearing a long black skirt arm in arm with a look-alike of HM The Queen. Once he'd finished posing with the pint-sized, tiara-sporting impersonator, he went solo and unashamedly flashed his right leg for photographers in the vein of Angelina Jolie at the 2012 Oscars.

Spanning two floors, the clothes are brought to life on static mannequins on to which human faces are projected upon. The effect is actually quite creepy, but only because the visages look so lifelike as a result.

Mannequins brought to life by projectors

A total of 165 outfits from Gaultier's ready-to-wear and Haute Couture collections feature and yes - Madonna's conical bra and corsets from her 1990 Blonde Ambition tour are on display.

Inside the exhibition. Photo: Jon Bradley

Gaultier's model supporters Jade Parfitt and a pregnant Erin O'Connor, who was captured next to a portrait of herself from the exhibition, attended the event, as did singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright, who serenaded guests on the piano sporting a floor-length, oriental-inspired jacket that he publicly declared he planned to never give back.

Model Erin O'Connor posing next to a portrait of herself. Photo: Jon Bradley